Card of the Day: VIII Strength
[caption id align="alignnone" width="526"]
Spirit Within Tarot [/caption]
Tarot people sometimes talk about a card that serves as a litmus test for whether they’ll buy a deck. I haven’t had one, but today, the Strength card announced itself for this role. Sometimes VIII, sometimes XI in the Major Arcana, this card depicts the challenge of holding all of ourselves. The parts we like and the parts we don’t like and the parts we don’t even know about yet. With love, fearlessness, confidence and wisdom.
I really love this depiction, which makes the printing flaw in the moon, above the lion, something of a micro-disappointment. The full moon is the moment when the light of our conscious mind—the Sun—and the light of our subconscious mind—the Moon—are opposite each other, held in dynamic tension (something I learned from Sarah Faith Gottesdiener). It’s a time when our shadow self, and the collective shadow, may be more easily accessible.
I think this card beautifully illustrates what it feels like to face hard internal things like fear, shame, grief, rage. It feels foolish. Dangerous. The figure has their back to the edge of a precipice. And yet the figure—the self we know about—and the lion—our wildness, instincts, shadow—are literally eye to eye. Seeing each other, meeting each other. Intimate. Functioning, for a moment, as one thing. What else could make such an encounter possible?
How am I learning to hold all of myself? White privilege and class privilege have given me access throughout my life to resources like therapy, bodywork and other healing modalities, and I can tell you—that stuff can really help. A lot. (Which is why I donate monthly to Rachel Cargle’s @thelovelandfoundation) What else? A strong desire to heal and liberate myself and the collective. Ritual, meditation, working with teachers in a non-hierarchical framework. A creative practice that lets my over-functioning self relax while I remain awake and aware. Paying attention to pleasure. Trees, creeks, flowers and birds. Color. Music. Spring. Sometimes I cry and shake. Or just practice breathing deeply.
What helps you hold the harder aspects of yourself?
